Happy New Year, Ebbybody!
Here's a question for you:
What was the highlight of your year? (or if you prefer, the lowlight)
I think my highlight was buying a house- it was so easy and hassle-free, contrary to conventional wisdom. One afternoon Michelle and I decided to go look at houses, just for something to do. We found the perfect house so we bought it. It was seriously that easy.
I think my lowlight was getting snmashed in the face at work, getting knocked down in the mud and seeing my blood dripping and not knowing if I was seriously hurt or not (I wasn't, thankfully).
I'll see you in 2007!

Best 6 Books
This was the hardest list for me since I read 60 or 70 books this year. And I'm not sure if ANY of them were actually published in 2006. I'll put the actual publication date in brackets.
1. Next of Kin, Peter Fouts (1997). This is the story of Washoe, the world's first talking chimpanzee (she speaks American Sign Language, as do many other great apes), and the scientist, Fouts, who spent his career learning from her and her family. Simultaneously hilarious, astonishing, and heartbreaking.
2. Olympos, Dan Simmons (2005). I've mentioned this book, and its predecessor Ilium, several times, and always somewhat inadequately. You can't really put such a book in a nutshell, dealing as it does with Homer, Proust and Shakespeare by throwing together Greek gods, robots, spaceships and monsters. On Mars.
3. Hitching Rides With Buddha, Will Ferguson (1998). Fellow Albertan Ferguson is rapdily becoming one of Canada's best loved writers, and this book shows why- it's a quirky travelogue full of eccentric figures and fascinating places as he hitch-hikes the length of Japan in pursuit of the cherry blossoms.
4. Serpent Catch, Dave Wolverton (1991). I tried reading its sequel first, The Path of the Hero, and found it pretty confusing, not realizing it was numba 2. Read in the correct order, they're great sci-fi fun, with Neanderthals and apemen and mammoths galore.
5. The Boilerplate Rhino, David Quammen (2000). How do you get this gig? Outside Magazine told Quammen to write a monthly column on anything science-related he felt like. This book is a collection of some of the best essays that resulted. Lucky for me there's another one out there.
6. Darwinia, Robert Charles Wilson (1998). I love Lost World stories, especially ones that have a unique mechanism for bringing said world into play. Special bonus- Wilson is a Canuck too.

I'm looking forward to reading a book that actually was published in 2006- Vincent Lam's Giller Prize winning Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures.

Top Movies of 2006
This list was a lot easier to make since I actually only went to three movies in all of 2006- X3, POTC:DMC and Flags of Our Fathers. We rented a handful more, such as V For Vendetta which was excellent; Ultraviolet was so terrible I stopped watching after 20 minutes (18 minutes too long); and Transamerica was a cool, quirky, sweet movie in the vein of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. But the best movie I saw this year was:
The World's Fastest Indian
Which might have come out in 2005. It's the true story of an Invercargill, New Zealand bloke who modified a 1920 Indian motorcycle till it was, indeed, the fastest in the world.
Speaking of Invercargill, I hope they make a movie about that Swanson guy. He, or possibly she, is best known for playing hockey. In fact, that's ALL that's known about this mysterious kiwi. That, and (s)he gives old hoodies to the Invercargill thrift shop.

Top 6 CDs of 2006
This was a tough list to make, since between Michelle and I we must have bought thirty discs this year. Though some of her discs (Josh Groban, Faith Hill) I doubt I will ever listen to. So, in more or less random order:

1. Angels and Airwaves, We Don't Need To Whisper. Blink-18who? Recommended track: Start the Machine
2. Beck, The Information. Hey, wasn't he on last year's list? That's alright, I'll include him any time he cares to make an album. Rec Track: Think I'm In Love (But It Makes Me Kind of Nervous to Say So)
3. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stadium Arcadium. It's not their fault that radio is playing this to death. Rec. Track: If
4. Rob Zombie, Educated Horses. It inspired art. Rec. Track: Foxy Foxy
5. Johnny Cash, American V-A Hundred Highways. The Edmonton Sun's Fish Griwkowsky gave it five stars, saying he automatically grants this rating to any disc that makes him cry. I agree. Rec. Track: God's Gonna Cut You Down
6. Loreena McKennit, An Ancient Muse. Did you know she sounds exactly the same live, if not better? Rec. Track: Beneath A Phrygian Sky

Honorable Mention goes to The Tragically Hip for World Container, which gets better with every listen.

Something called Edge asked a very interesting question of some of the worlds' foremost scientists and thinkers:
WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IS TRUE EVEN THOUGH YOU CANNOT PROVE IT?
There are some pretty interesting answers, though I haven't gone through them all. I especially like Tor NØrretranders' answer.
My own answer, without taking too much time to think, is I believe Neanderthals survived until as recently as 5000 years ago, rather than going extinct 25,000 years ago as currently accepted.
So what's your answer?

As of 7:00 this morning I can check another item off my list of things to do in 2006:

Buy a house
Be declared Time's Person of the Year
Work 88 nightshifts

Yup, last set of nights for the year. Actually I only have two more shifts left for 2006! That's pretty great. What pretty sucks about it is that they're on the 24th and the 27th. So, Saturday night I drive 300 kms to Hinton for Christmas Eve dayshift, then drive home for Christmas, then Boxing Day I return for one more shift, then come home the next day. Oh well, what can I do?
Come to think of it, I could
Ask for the time off

No go, though. Oh well. Those four days off every week help ease the pain.
Still to accomplish on the list:

Cook Christmas turkey dinner for 14 people

When Michelle married me, she became my unwitting musical padawan- she was exposed to bushels of music never before heard by her ears. Today I think I will promote her from padawan to jedi knight. She came home to find me listening to Beck's Mellow Gold, specifically track 7, 'Sweet Sunshine', and she remarked, "This reminds me a little of Slipknot, in a way." And indeed, 'Virus of Life' and 'Iowa' both have a similar vibe, believe it or not, to that song. An astute observation!
I'm so proud!
Of course, it works both ways, as I am now something of an Oprah acolyte, knowing who Oprites such as Dr. Oz and Steadman are. I even watched Oprah's Road Trip episodes all by myself when Michelle was working late, coaching volleyball. In fact, Oprah is on right now so I guess I should go.

Three Years, and 2000 Miles
Michelle and I were two of the lucky few who were able to get tickets to Holly Cole's sort-of-annual Christmas concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra last night. It was fantastic- she's so talented and innovative. And she has the sexiest voice ever.
I confess I teared up a little when she played 2000 Miles- my favorite of her Christmas songs (it's a Pretenders cover). Three years ago, I was scheduled to speak at the gathering during the Christmas season, and I asked my friend Deb if she would perform that song for me. The night before, Craig and Deb came over to the Woodsy Crypt to visit gabrielle, and Poe, and me. A fun time, we were sitting around talking when I got a phone call from my Grandma. Her youngest son, my uncle, had died quite suddenly and unpleasantly. In fact, he hanged himself. I made arrangements to help her take care of things and hung up. Craig and Deb stayed late into the night, just to be there. Craig said he would cover for me speaking-wise. Poe, the cat, even came and cuddled as I just sat on the couch. In the morning, gabrielle, my room-mate, made me coffee and gave me a poem she had written. Then I left to drive to Hinton, then Calgary, then Hinton, and eventually back to Edmonton- a distance of not quite 2000 miles, but far enough.
Anyways, when Holly Cole sang that beautiful song last night, and those tears welled up, it wasn't totally a response to sadness, but also a sense of gratefulness for the friends who are there for you in the long, cold winter nights.


He's gone 2000 miles
It's very far
The snow is falling down
Gets colder day by day
I miss you

The children will sing
He'll be back at christmastime

In these frozen and silent nights
Sometimes in a dream you appear
Outside under the purple sky
Diamonds in the snow sparkle
Our hearts were singing
It felt like christmastime

2000 miles
Is very far through the snow
Ill think of you
Wherever you go

He's gone 2000 miles
It's very far
The snow is falling down
Gets colder day by day
I miss you

I can hear people singing
It must be christmastime
I hear people singing
It must be christmastime

(lyrics by Chrissie Hynde)

Do I have to change to the new Blogger? It sort of implies that I do. I don't want to.
Anyway.
The real reason I signed in to Blogger tonight was to ask you guys to keep an eye out for my toque. Toques, actually. I lost my Yankees toque tonight, the one I got in New York and was wearing because the All Blacks toque I got in New Zealand got lost last year. Prior to that the toque I got in a case of beer and wore to China and Tibet got lost at a football game (probably stolen by a Roughrider). Not to mention the great toque I bought for when I went up to Churchill to see polar bears back on my cross-Canada hitch-hiking trip almost a decade ago- I lost that one after I got home a polar bear stole it from me and gave it to her mammoth friend.
So if you find one of my toques, please send it to me. I miss them. For some reason they remind me of traveling. I also like how they keep my head warm.

This week's Ten Word Challenge is up if you want to play. If you're not part of dA you can tell me and I can pass the link along. Or you could just join deviantArt.
My own challenge for today is called "Clean the Bathroom or Face Wife's Wrath". Wish me luck.

You know what there aren't enough of? Neanderthal songs. In fact, I can't think of even one off the top of my head, though I am sure there are some out there. So that's your assignment for today- find me some caveman songs. Eithre songs written by Neanderthals, or about them. Whichever.
Here's one from National Geographic- "Cannibal Neandertal". Catchy.

And check out what I found when I was over at Amazon- video of Loreena McKennit performing a song from her new CD, An Ancient Muse! Lovely. I assume you got her disc a couple weeks ago when it came out but if not it isn't too late to correct this grievous oversight. I've already pretty much worn out my copy.

Maybe you read Daniel Keyes' short story "Flowers For Algernon" in high school, or saw one of the tv shows or movies based on it. The original short story won a Hugo award in 1960. Certainly a classic.
But I bet you've never read the story that came in second in Hugo voting that year- Philip José Farmer's "The Alley Man". I came across it more or less by accident as it was in one of the many short story anthologies I buy for a buck in used bookstores that serve me so well on nightshift at the coal mine.
The alley man is Old Man Paley, the last surviving Neanderthal, a one-armed bottlepicker who lives off the refuse of us False Folks, worshipping the Old Guy in the Sky and patiently waiting for the time when he can rise again.
Or maybe he's just an ugly and demented old derelict whose biggest dream is to be a wrestler on tv, billed as the Awful Apeman.
Anyways, a great find. You should read it- the real pleasure is listening to Old Man's constant stream of chatter as he recounts his people's history to a wide-eyed anthropology student. Obviously I ate it right up since it was about Neanderthals. Or probably was about Neanderthals.
Speaking of Neanderlit, I recommend Dave Wolverton's Serpent Catch and Path of the Hero, which has Neanderthals and mammoths and all kinds of crazy things.
I'm sure you've at least heard of, if not read, Clan of the Cave Bear. Good book, could have used more actual cave bears though. Still, it has plenty of Neanderthals.